The U.S. Supreme Court April 26
decided two cases related to the criminal justice system, both
involving the interplay between domestic and foreign laws.

InSmall v. United States, No. 03-750,
the court held that the federal statute that forbids possession of a
firearm by a person "convicted in any court" of a crime punishable by
more than a year in prison, 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(1), applies only to domestic, not
foreign, prior convictions. The court said nothing in the statutory
language indicates that Congress enacted the legislation with anything
other than domestic concerns in mind, and it pointed out that foreign
laws may criminalize conduct that domestic laws would allow.

In Pasquantino
v. United States, No. 03-725, the court decided that a scheme to
defraud a foreign government of tax revenue through the use of domestic
interstate wires violates the federal
wire fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. §1343.
It said that applying the wire fraud statute to punish such acts does
not violate the common-law revenue rule, because it is not a suit that
aims to recover a foreign tax liability but a criminal prosecution
intended to punish domestic criminal conduct.